TMS Muse of the Week: Marilyn Monroe

(Donaldson Collection)

With the announcement of Netflix’s new documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, I’m left wondering to myself again: How much more exposure can this poor woman receive? How much ‘rare and unseen’ footage is left to uncover for an actress who died at age 36 in 1962? How many times are we going to hear about her unfortunate childhood between various foster homes or unknowns claiming they knew her ‘very well?’ Marilyn Monroe is the poster child for the posthumous legacy of someone who left us too soon. But the tragedy of that is not just the loss of her potential and the rest of her life, but also her image and career being used as easy topics for retro gossip or pop culture history. The posters, gifs and fake quotes not said by Marilyn Monroe are ingrained into the memory of her as much as her films and songs. We’re at the point where the likeness of Marilyn Monroe has a life beyond the personality that goes with the body.

Another downside to overexposure is how much words like ‘overrated’ become common with the celebrity attached to them. I personally love Marilyn as an actress. A lot of people want to toss aside her as just a pretty face, but most who actually care about cinema and old Hollywood, know Marilyn had all of the ‘it’ factor, including talent. Even when she was cast in musical comedies like Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) or Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959), the producers thought about having another vocalist cover her for the songs. But the most famous and in-demand ghost vocalist for Hollywood musicals—Marni Nixon—convinced those producers Marilyn’s limited, yet adorable, voice was appropriate enough for the characters of Lorelei Lee and Sugar Kane Kowalczyk. As for the dramatic range, well anyone can see with their eyes Marilyn could hold her own in the cult classic, Daniel Taradash’s Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) and her last completed film, John Huston’s The Misfits (1961).

The allure of Marilyn Monroe isn’t lost on anyone in the 20th century or the 21st century. Whether it was filmmakers such as Howard Hawks and John Huston who saw her potential early on in Hawks’ screwball comedy Monkey Business (1952) and Huston’s film noir The Asphalt Jungle (1950); and later recruited her for two more classics with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Misfits. Or Billy Wilder, who was the man behind the 1955 screen adaptation of George Axelrod’s The Seven Year Itch—which features the iconic moment when Marilyn’s white dress flies upward. Billy knew it was worth it to work with her again on Some Like It Hot, despite clashing with each other during the productions. Most think Marilyn was one of the first models to pose for Playboy Magazine in 1953. But in reality, Hugh Hefner just made sure he was the first to buy the rights to an obscure nude shoot the starlet did early in her career.

(PR News Foto / AP Images)

Marilyn’s birth name was Norma Jeane Mortensen, and we’ll always remember that thanks to Elton John & Bernie Taupin’s iconic 1973 ballad ‘Candle in the Wind’ [an ode to her legacy]. The blonde star was not only a favorite to film fans, but a muse to John, Taupin, and her third husband, playwright-screenwriter Arthur Miller. Supposedly the most important relationship in Marilyn’s life, the two worked together on The Misfits, where Marilyn was the female lead and Arthur wrote the screenplay. Most critics and historians have noted the transparent similarities between the actress’ personal dilemmas and her character’s. And those same critics and historians thought maybe the protagonist of Arthur’s first play following Marilyn’s death, After the Fall (1964), hit a little too close to home. I don’t know if athletes have muses the same way artists do, but Marilyn certainly made a big enough impression on tempestuous previous husband Joe DiMaggio; who made sure there were always flowers at her grave for years.

None of us will ever really know Marilyn, despite her image being everywhere we look and all these exposes continuing. But we will always be able to see a glimpse of her talent, range and charm through her work. Whether it’s an early role in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s ensemble drama All About Eve (1950), or co-starring in Jean Negulesco’s romcom How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), or experimenting with a western like Otto Preminger’s River of No Return (1954). She had the grace to hold herself.